The Florida Girl

𝕝𝕚𝕗𝕖𝕤𝕥𝕪𝕝𝕖 𝕓𝕝𝕠𝕘𝕘𝕖𝕣 • 𝕞𝕠𝕞 • 𝕙𝕠𝕞𝕖 𝕕𝕖𝕔𝕠𝕣 • 𝕗𝕒𝕤𝕙𝕚𝕠𝕟

Lighten Up

Welcome to the heart of our home – our kitchen! Not only is it my favorite room, it literally is in the middle of the house. We recently completed a full home renovation in order to add a suite on for my mom, who moved in with us over 3 years ago after my dad passed away. I am super proud of how the space turned out. There was just one (well, maybe 3) little things wrong with it…

Those 3 little things were the tiny black island pendant lights! During the renovation we were moving so quickly and selecting materials so fast (oh, and did I mention bleeding money?). When my contractor needed all the lighting on site we mad a very rash decision and tried to be budget conscious and selected the black pendants. I never really was happy and always felt they were wrong for the space, but sometimes you just go with the flow and against your gut.

As a designer, a woman (and one who is 8-1/2 months pregnant at that) I reserve the right to change my mind, and, in this case, I definitely changed my mind! I knew 3 pendants would technically fit… but had a feeling as 2 were hung that as the magic number and sweet spot.

I have worked with and specified Kichler Lighting for many of my clients’ projects in the past so when it came time to picking the proper pendant lights for my space, I knew I was going to select from their line. When I saw the Kichler Elias White convertible pendants I instantly knew they were the ones.

I still had hubby hold the third one up, and ultimately hang it in place, BUT two pendants were the perfect quantity & scale!

Scale is the size of one object in relation to the other objects in a design  and those old black pendants were just not cutting it – AT ALL! Out with the wrong and in with the new, and right.

The softness of the white pan-inspired shape of the shade and the subtle gold interior finish coordinate and accentuate all of the existing gold hardware and plumbing perfectly!

I am so happy with the overall farmhouse modern feel these beautiful new Kichler pendants have brought to our home!

Ladies love brunch

Am I right or am I right…ladies love brunch? If you saw my Ain’t Life Peachy post, you’ll know I have been preparing for this day for a few weeks now! I don’t mess around! If you have been wondering what simple things I put together to make a huge impact, here is how it all turned out!

Outfit Details:
You can find my crop top HERE and my skirt HERE

The most important item at brunch is the food, duh! Check out this spread of biscuits & gravy, scrambled eggs, ombré pancakes, fresh fruit, and bacon! All the basics and a little touch of “extra” with the ombré pancakes…but they sure do add a punch (and help keep up the peachy theme)!

A few drops of red food coloring and voila, you have ombré pancakes! It makes such a huge impact. I am sure there is a natural food color you can use like beets or even blueberries or raspberries, but for time sake I just used red food coloring.

The second most important brunch item for me is FLOWERS! Trader Joe’s has some of the most economical stems by far! Do yourself a favor and run there now! If you are not feeling creative they have some prearranged bouquets too. I love creating floral arrangements so I purchase a ton of different flowers (not only are they the best-priced flowers around they have some of the more unique stems too) like these peonies and ranunculus.

Check out my “We are here for the fun” Blog post to see some of my must-have neutral houseware items for serving a party!

Last, but certainly not least on my list of must-haves for brunch is a good cocktail (or mocktail in this case). I have been posting new mocktail recipes on Instagram every day around lunchtime. I even have a few story highlight reels where I have saved them all. One of my favorite recipes lately was a blackberry pineapple lemonade drink. I knew it would be perfect for brunch.

Oh, and I can’t forget laughs! Every good brunch is to be filled with your favorite friends and family, which ultimately will create the belly laughs!